Accessing Your Own Wisdom
     by Deirdre McEacherin   

"Let nothing come between you and the light."
            ~~ Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes I spend quite a bit of time working with my clients on personal productivity issues like time management, prioritization, and effective systems. We do this because it is much easier to achieve work-life balance when we are productive! Having a sense of accomplishment helps us to more easily shift from our work to our personal lives when we feel the need to do so.

One piece of personal productivity strategy that often gets overlooked is that sometimes to do more, we need to do less. Much less. As in nothing. Some call it down time, others call it recharge time and others call it meditation. It doesn't matter what you call it or what form it takes for you. The key is to quiet your mind and be open to the surprising breakthroughs that can happen. I do some of my best strategic thinking when I am doing non-mind engaging activities -- running, yoga, cooking, walking, cleaning my house, doing dishes, journaling. Basically, anything that is routine enough to be done almost automatically. I have noticed that if I can manage to take my brain out of the fast lane for a minute or two my creativity and my ability to creatively solve problems become reinvigorated.

Mind you, it can take me more than a few minutes of these routine activities to move my thoughts from their usual whirlwind of activity in the fast lane across all of my 'to-do list traffic' to make it to this wonderful slower place! I recognize that I need to give myself adequate time to start the activity (still mentally on overdrive), get engrossed in it (starting to slowly shift gears) and then eventually slow down enough to relax my thoughts.

I know I am in a good place when I start to daydream or drift from thoughts that feel urgent to more peaceful thoughts of gratitude and appreciation for things exactly as they are. This is that magical moment when you can pull your thoughts out the 'to-do list' fast lane and notice that's it a beautiful day.

Have you ever taken a moment of deep gratitude for the fact that your breath goes in and out and allows you to remain alive? These are the moments when everyday anxiety can temporarily leave and your mind. This is where brilliance and wisdom live.

When I return to working after these meditative activities I am energized and motivated about my work, my new ideas and my life.

I have learned that the ability to occasionally quiet the mind is an invaluable competitive asset in any career.

Are you the taking time to access your own wisdom?

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